Winds of the Demon Country
by Cornpuffs
Summary: Naruto and Lee depart to Demon Country for another gaurding mission five years after the current timeline. What suprises wait for the two jumpsuit-clad ninja? The rare and new Naruto X Shion pairing. Lee X ?
1. Chapter 1

I saw the ending scene to Naruto Shippuuden: The Movie. I had to write this.

--

_Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap_

Footsteps echoed through the dark hallways.

_Ta-thump ta-thump ta-thump ta-thump_

The young man's heart was pounding in his head.

He turned into a room, bursting through the grand double doors, the size of the building they were housed in.

"SHION!" the man called out. Short and spikey yellow hair was covered in sweat. He had looked over the entire area, looking for Shion. Not one to give up, he ran through the room. It was obviously the throne room for the enemy who had done this...

Sure enough, she was on the throne, tied up and gagged. A relieved smile was on his face, but it was short lived as he ran to her. He pulled the gag down, and before he could speak...

"BEHIND YOU!" was all he heard, before he turned to see a kunai headed for his face.

The man caught it easily, throwing it back in zero time. He charged behind it, aiming a punch at the attacker. As the man raised his fist back, he then caught a look of his assailant.

"You're..."

A sickening ripping sound echoed through the room, before the captive screamed.

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

--

A roaring yawn sounded through the Hokage Mansion, as one Uzumaki Naruto looked up. He had fallen asleep at the desk again. At the age of twenty, Naruto had been selected as a candidate for Hokage and elected to the position, but only if he learned the job better under an apprenticeship under Tsunade.

The number one most suprising ninja took to the Hokage-in-Training job like a fish did to water, like Kakashi and Jiraiya to porn, or like Rock Lee to sake. Wait, bad example. Anyways, Naruto has come a long way from the headstrong genin. Shortly after Sasuke was reinstated, Naruto and he took the chunin exam with a kunoichi that had failed previously, due to a broken foot leaving her unable to fight in the finals.

Needless to say, Naruto's team passed with flying colors. Team Seven was whole, again. And even Sai made new friends to have a regular team with. After all, Danzo's treachery had been exposed by the emotionless youth "accidentally".

So everything seemed to be working out for Naruto.

Well, except for the whole "can't get a girlfriend" thing. You see, dear reader, Uzumaki Naruto has a slight girl problem. Sure, they all think he's funny, sweet, and charming...

But all the girls he has ever been interested in? Well, they're all either taken or they think of him as a brother. A kid brother, even, which did nothing to help the Hokage-to-be's self-esteem.

But besides that, Naruto's life had been going perfectly. Akatsuki was dead, Jiraiya was resting peacefully, Sasuke was back... the list went on and on. The villagers loved him, the shinobi corps revered him.

And he was going to be an uncle.

Sasuke had adopted Naruto into the Uchiha clan as his brother, and had wasted no time in reviving the Uchiha clan with Sakura. Naruto had been hurt for a while when Sakura went to the last of the Sharingan wielders, but he got over it, following the example of his dead Godfather.

Speaking of parents, Naruto had found out, and released to the public, his lineage, which boosted his look to the village. Nothing like having the greatest ninja ever as your father... it gave you some status. Of course, Naruto would argue that the greatest one was the son, not the father, but that is a moot point.

The trainee stood up, stretching his back. He had been working on some paperwork when he fell asleep, mission requests, if he remembered correctly.

He'd get back to that later. He was hungry, he wanted to bathe, and he needed to stretch.

After fixing himself food, showering, and a lot of stretching and joint-popping, Naruto sat back down at the desk.

He rubbed his temples, feeling the oncoming of a headache as he looked at a bit of drool on a scroll... and it was an A-rank mission scroll, too.

"Ugh... oh!" Naruto's discontent ended when he read over the paper.

It was a mission to Demon Country.

Naruto sat back in his chair, contemplating. He hadn't been on a field mission in months. An A-rank mission might be enough to break up the monotony!

Grinning a true prankster grin, the blonde ninja stamped an approval after scrawling his name on the mission scroll. He grabbed the rest of them and teleported to Tsunade's office. Not surprised to see Shizune, he waved at his older sister.

"Hey, Shizune-nee-chan. Sorry to do this, but I found a mission that looks good to me. Tell Tsunade I'm taking Lee and we're going to Demon Country. There's another guard mission there at a temple." Naruto said, before placing the paper work on the desk of the Gondaime.

Shizune only nodded, knowing that Naruto's mind had been made up and that Tsunade's wrath would come on to him later. It was something she had grown used to in eight years.

Naruto wouldn't be Naruto without impulsiveness.

She smiled at the boy, and nodded.

"I'll be sure to tell her, Naruto-kun. Be safe!" With that, the dark-haired woman shook her head, and went back to her task of preparing everything for Tsunade.

Naruto had had little trouble finding Lee. It was still rather early in the day, which meant that the green-clad ninja was exercising. Surely enough, Naruto found his jumpsuit-wearing fellow ninja with relative ease. He was kicking a post. With weights on his ankles... and he was standing on his feet. Naruto's head shook.

"You're rather early today, Naruto-kun."

The orange ninja smiled, nodding.

"We've got a mission. A-Rank to mission country. Taking out the copy he had made of the scroll as he had approved the mission, he read all of the details given to him.

"Ah! So we're going back to see Shion-sama!" Lee said, nodding.

Naruto shook his head.

"We have no way of knowing if we're guarding her or not. She can't be the only priestess they have. Demon Country is rather big for a minor country, but I do think that paying her a visit after the mission wouldn't hurt. Tsunade says I should take a break more often. I've already set up the mission for the two of us, but I'm more than willing to go by myself." Naruto said, knowing that little persuasion was needed with Lee. Sure enough, the green ninja had stopped listening and jumped into the air with his hands, flipping onto his feet, and standing upright.

Naruto grinned, handing the scroll to Lee.

"Yeah! I'm in, Naruto-kun!" Lee said, grinning at his friend.

Naruto nodded, and gave a thumbs up.

"Meet you in an hour, at the west gate." Naruto said, before poofing away in true ninja style.

An hour later, Naruto and Lee met at the west gate. They both had everything they would need. A week's worth of rations each, clothes, extra jumpsuits, tents... it looked, to one inexperienced with shinobi, as if the two young men were going on a camping trip.

With a grin, and a thumbs up between the two of them, the two ninja nodded and suddenly blurred away,running at insane speeds.

Naruto and Lee had become rather close over the years. Lee was as much of a brother to him as Sasuke was. . The green jumpsuit-clad ninja had taught Naruto the Iron Fist, trained with him on a nearly day-to-day basis, and Naruto helped Lee learn how to fight against overwhelming numbers, a tricky opponent, and they both admired the other for their ninja paths.

And besides: They had the best fashion sense in all of Konoha. Everyone would laugh in agreement with the two whenever they said it, so they knew it to be true. After all, nothing could beat orange and green or jumpsuits of any color.

But over the years, Lee and Naruto have quickly become known as the Sonic Boom Duo of Konoha. The Handsome Blue Beast, and the Raging Crimson Fox. And occasionally, Sasuke would be part of the group, as the Mysterious Black Hawk.

Sasuke would sigh, a small twitch of anger and embarrassment in his eyes whenever that name would come up. Naruto would never understand why.

It sounded cool to him.

--

After nearly a day of high speed endurance traveling, Naruto and Lee both found a nice clearing. The sun was setting, and the day was quickly becoming night. The two ninjas set up camp. Naruto made a Shadow clone to watch, and the two real ninja went to sleep, their race having tired them slightly.

They were halfway there.

--

Many miles away, a lone cloak-covered man kneeled in front of a shadowed person sitting on a throne.

"My lord. The Priestess has requested assistance from Konoha. My most loyal spies tell me that the eventual Rokudaime and one of his partners, Rock Lee, are headed there personally. What should we do, sire?"

The man, covered by shadows, smiled.

"If they get in the way, kill them both. I doubt two little ninja, S-Ranked or not, can stop the full force of our power. Just make sure to capture the wench of a Priestess when the time is right. Until then... do not fail me, Kabuto. Or you will die."

Kabuto looked up, and nodded his head.

"Yes, my master."

--

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own any other book, anime, or series of anything mentioned in this fiction. I profit from this only in the satisfaction of knowing that I'm adding to the fandom with something new. Thank you. Come again.


	2. Chapter 2

Gee... I didn't expect that kind of reaction I kinda just realized I'm a pioneer of this ship... which is actually rather exhilarating. I'm glad you guys liked it. Just do me a favor before we get to this point: instead of saying something useless, like "it's too short", or "this story sux!!11!", please, do elaborate. I'd like to improve and make my story better. If you're praising it, that's great. I have no real requests in that area.

Anyway, I've wasted enough time on this author's note. It's story time.

--

Naruto awoke to the sounds of birds chirping. He had a strange dream, a nightmare. From what he could remember, he had died. But that's all. He went out of his tent to see his clone sleeping on the job. To his right, he saw that his clone had made another clone, and so on and so forth.

"Jeez... dismissed." Naruto said, watching as the clones all dispersed. Naruto felt a painful twinge in his head as the memories of the night came to him.

Nothing had happened. Though one of the clones had gotten bored, and scouted the area. It had found a nice little creek. Naruto shook his head, unable to badmouth his clones. After all, they were him.

--

"Lee. Lee. LEE!" Naruto said, each time getting more forceful, as he shook his companion. The Gai-clone looked at Naruto groggily, before jumping up.

"That is odd. I overslept." Lee said. After knowing him so long, Lee's formal manner of speech didn't bother Naruto at all anymore. It had been one of the things that irked him as a child.

"Don't feel bad, Fuzzy-brows. I did too. I guess this is kinda like a vacation, though. With the dragon guy dead, it's not like there's anything threatening, right?

--

Miles away, a man had sneezed. He looked at his subordinate expectantly.

"Yes, master?" Kabuto said, confused, before realizing.

"Bless you!"

--

Lee shook his head.

"I believe that would be true, Naruto-kun. Still, we must not be completely unprepared. After all, you were on a mission that was supposed to be simple, but it turned into something more, correct?" Lee said, reminding Naruto of his genin adventure to the Wave Country.

Naruto nodded.

"You're right. Now, let's get something to eat and head out. I think we should take it at a normal pace. We're in foreign territory now, and we don't want to upset anyone."

Lee nodded. He and Naruto left the tent, and began to clean up the camp. Naruto made a few clones. One began to get out cooking supplies, while the other three headed to the creek Naruto had found out about earlier to get some fish. Naruto had no intention of losing his ramen early.

After an hour of getting ready and eating, the two took off. They were still rather fast, much faster than the average ninja's normal pace, but it was as slow as they could get without feeling like they were walking. Traveling all day, Naruto and Lee once again stopped.

Only this time, they weren't resting.

Naruto and Lee looked out to the the great temple of the High Priestess of the Demon Country.

"So, I guess we are guarding Shion..." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. The mission scroll was in his hands as he looked at the directions to his destination. He nodded to Lee in confirmation.

"Yep. We're guarding the spoiled brat again, Fuzzy-brows. You got lucky with that guess."

Lee shook his head.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun. I just listened when you read the mission scroll. I remembered the path we took, and the one you talked about sounded the same." Lee said, cracking a slight smile at Naruto's disbelief as the orange wearing ninja listened to him.

Naruto shook it off, before looking at his partner.

"Let's go. And hope that the mission doesn't start out like it did last time." Naruto said, as an afterthought.

Lee grinned.

"Why? You're looking forward to some kind of action." the green clad ninja said to his partner in a mock-accusing tone of voice.

Naruto shook his head.

"Yeah... you're right, 'tebayo. Maybe I am..." Naruto said. Without another word, the two ninja nodded at each other and sped off towards the temple.

--

"Shion-sama! We have reports from our front guard. Two ninja from Konoha are requesting permission to enter!" A young guard said, running into the room. He was barefoot as he sped his way to the priestess's feet, bowing humbly. He was rather new to the job, so he didn't know how to really relax around the feisty pale blond woman.

The priestess nodded.

"Bring them to me." Shion had to stifle a chuckle at the guard's expense as she watched him stumble to get up and carry out her order. She was clothed in an elegant kimono. It was rater plain in color, but it was covered in intricate designs. Many stars, the moon, and a black dragon battling a fox were just some of the things decorating the fine work of clothing. It was a pale orange color. She said it was a homage to a hero she knew. Few knew who she was talking about, and the ones who did were rather amused at how long their priestess had crushed on the blond ninja from Konoha.

When her more trusted advisors commented on it, Shion would blush, get frustrated, and would just flip on whoever did so. They thought it fun to get a rise out of her, considering how emotionless she had been before that orange wearing Konoha ninja showed up in her life.

Shion patiently waited until the guard came back.

"Shion-sama! May I present to you Rock Lee-sama and Uzumaki Naruto-sama." the young guard said, throwing himself at Shion's feet.

Naruto and Lee walked in. Naruto's hands were in his pockets, standing in a lazy pose. Lee was happy, smiling and waving at the blond girl.

Naruto had a frown on his face.

"Jeez, this place is still really uptight. Come on... I thought the big threat to you was gone, Shion." Naruto said.

Shion's face fell as this thought went through her head:

"_After all this time, he greets me again with complaining? I suppose it's better than how we met last time..."_

She shook her head and smiled.

"You haven't changed a bit, eh, Naruto? You either, Lee!" Lee grinned as he saluted.

Naruto shook his own head.

"Nope. Haven't changed at all, especially if you ask Sakura-chan. You've gotten shorter though. And I like the bow more than the huge ass bead thing you had in your hair." Naruto said, smiling.

It was true. Naruto had thought that the teal bead was rather tacky. The orange bow was a lot better.

Orange...

"Hey, you're copying my style! You're wearing a lot of orange!" Naruto said, pointing his finger.

Shion blushed slightly, as she glared.

"YOU IDIOT! I just happen to like orange! That's all! You have nothing to do with it!" Shion said, looking flustered.

Naruto held his hands out in front of him, trying to hold back the invisible force of the priestess's wrath.

"Just kidding, Shion! I promise."

The young guard was baffled at these three acting so familiar. Rock Lee saw the questioning look on the young man's face.

"We're friends from a while back. Naruto, some friends of ours, and I were protecting Shion-sama." Lee explained. The confusion disappeared from the man's face as understanding filled his eyes. He nodded at the Handsome Blue Beast of Konoha, who then nodded himself.

"Naruto-kun! Maybe we should find out why we are here exactly!" Lee said, trying to guide Naruto back to the mission. Even though the blonde ninja didn't show it on the outside, Lee knew his friend well enough to see Naruto was overjoyed to see the blonde priestess again.

Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Right, thank you... yes, Shion, as Lee was saying... why are we needed? Is Mouryou back?" Naruto asked, now genuinely curious as to why she needed the ninja support.

Shion sighed, mildly depressed at the small talk ending. Though Lee was right. They needed to know.

She inhaled and exhaled deeply.

"Not Mouryou. Sort of." Shion began.

"Sort of?" asked Naruto.

Shion nodded and continued.

"I have had a recent vision of a cult trying to again resurrect the Black Demon Dragon. I know enough from that vision that they need the power of the priestess to do so. I also think that there is a high level ninja running the show, so I have requested this as an A Rank. I'm glad that it is the two of you. Tell me, though, how are Sakura-san and Neji-san?" Shion asked.

Naruto and Lee took all of the information in. Lee looked up slightly at the next question, now looking at everything except the priestess.

Naruto sighed.

"Touchy subject around Lee. Long story short? Neji's got a genin team, and Sakura's carrying triplet Uchiha babies. We're all Jounin now. I'm actually training to take over Hokage in a few more years. I'm apprentice Hokage. The vice-Hokage, if you will." Naruto said, grinning.

Shion smiled at the two shinobi.

"Well, I'm glad. The two of you are heroes and should be treated as such. In fact... I think a banquet is in order."

Shion grinned. Everything was going to plan... and soon, very soon, little blonde haired, whiskered children would be running around the village.

--

So I'm trying to keep multiple plots going on. Sorry this is late. One of the downsides of living with your parents as a minor is that you can be grounded. I'll try to have the next one out sooner. This one doesn't feel right to me, but it's the best draft I got.

And one more note:

People, don't complain about length. I like the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe wrote short stories, so people could read a good work of fiction in one sitting. Obviously, this is no short story, but I like to try and keep a plot going with as small of a chapter as possible. Many times, I'll be reading a fic with super-sized chapters and not be able to finish them due to other things getting in the way.


End file.
